Carols and Candlelight
by collegesweetheart
Summary: Can persistence pay off? Or is there something already there? Just a HouseCam Christmas present for all the shippers out there.
1. Amazing Grace

Hey guys! A while ago I decided to do a Christmas Advent Calendar-style story for House this December. However, having just moved out of home, and working 6 days a week, I haven't had that much time to do work on it. So the plan is to get as many chapters done as I can and put them up daily. However, not being at home does have its disadvantages as at the moment I am sans internet, so if a chapter doesn't go up every day, I haven't managed to reach the internet that day. Anyway, I'm now issuing a challenge for all writers to do something similar. Leave a review with me for this story and tell me what TV Show and pairing you're doing. So long as no-one doubles up, I'll add them all to a separate 'general community' for advent-style Christmas stories. Obviously I've chosen House, and the House/Cam pairing. Oh, and disclaimer: I don't own House, please don't sue!

Amazing Grace

_How precious did that grace appear_

_the hour I first believed._

_Through many dangers, toils and snares,_

_I have already come._

'_Twas grace that led me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home._

Another day, another offering of Gregory House's biting wit. As Alison Cameron sank into the driver's seat of her car she sighed. The weather was miserable, as could only be expected at this time of year. Wind ripped through the trees, tearing the last of the curled brown leaves from their home and tossing them through the frosty air. She shook her umbrella and closed it, throwing it onto the passenger seat as she slammed the door closed, shutting herself off from the biting wind. Cameron sat for a minute in the relative quiet. The wind dropped momentarily, before returning with even greater force and a companion – fat, solid droplets of rain. Was it possible that her day could get more depressing? Not only had she had to inform a twelve-year-old boy and his parents that due to an aggressive tumour on his spine he had less than three months to live, but House had ignored her for last half of the day, after having spent the first half aggravating her. And now, when she finally left the hospital, even Mother Nature seemed to be trying her darndest to make the world miserable.

Cameron slid the key into the ignition and turned it, hearing the engine sputter and turn over amidst the sound of the rain hammering against her windscreen and the tinny noise that it made hitting the roof of her car. She revved the engine gently, before letting it idle for a minute or two to warm up. Turning on her headlights and blasting the heating, Cameron held her frozen fingers in front of the heating vent to thaw.

The first of December. Traditionally this would be the day that she and her family would have a roast dinner – beef, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, peas and corn with thick, red wine gravy – followed by decorating the tree her dad had bought that afternoon while listening to Christmas carols blurting from the stereo speakers. In the last two Christmas's she had spent at home, Joe had joined them. The first time, they had only been dating for four months. But even in that short amount of time, both Cameron and her family had fallen in love with the bright, popular man who would one day be her husband. Her mother had asked Cameron to invite him to the dinner, saying that he was as much family as anyone else who would be sitting at the table. When she had told him this, Joe leaned in and whispered into her ear

"That's just as well then, because one of these days, I'm going to marry you Ally." Both of them had spent the rest of the day with ear-to-ear grins.

But today, like the past two years since she had moved across to New Jersey from Washington, Cameron had nothing to go home to except an empty apartment and a pile of research journals. Hardly festive. Last year she had finally given in to a bit of the Christmas spirit and had handed out cards and canes at work, but her apartment was still the same pale, empty white. 'Minimalist' was what she liked to call it, but in her heart she knew it was just empty.

Glancing at her watch, she realised it was only 5.30. With Christmas shopping hours in full swing, the shops in the mall close to her apartment would be open for another hour at least. Her mind made up, Cameron buckled her seatbelt and reversed from her parking bay, making her way out into the peak hour traffic. Maybe her bad day could be turned around.

Trying to find the positives in her day, she forced a small smile onto her face. Her day wasn't really all that bad. She had caught House watching her when he thought she wasn't looking. She had just left the room of the young boy, hurt and sadness showing quite openly in her face. She knew there were reasons – good reasons – that he often made her inform patients and their loved ones about death and terminal diagnoses. He knew her weaknesses and tried, however harshly it came across, correcting them. And she had to admit to herself, she had improved. As a doctor, being able to say to a patient that they would die was an important skill. Breaking down when the patient did earned no respect and often made them even more fearful of what was awaiting them. His other reason was compassion. While he may have always told everyone it boiled down to trust – people trusted a female doctor when it came to things like this – she knew it was because out of the three ducklings, she was the most compassionate. That was not to say that Chase and Foreman lacked anything as doctors, it was simply that they didn't have the inherent female intuition and sympathy. Her built-in motherliness was reassuring to patients. Still, as a living, breathing human being, especially one with memories of watching her husband die slowly and painfully, the task took a toll on her. He had watched her as she had headed towards the elevator for the clinic, tapping his cane on the floor in thought.

Pulling out of the heavy stream of Friday evening traffic and into the crowded parking lot of the mall, Cameron found a space and headed towards her favourite department store. When she finally made her way through the crowds of families and stressed out shoppers, it took her only a few moments to locate the Christmas section and make her way to it. Bypassing the enormous line of children and parents waiting for photos with Santa, she made her way to the Christmas tree display. Some were quite obviously too big, and some too small to make an impact on her relatively spacious living room. Eventually, Cameron settled on a moderately large tree, just a little bit taller than herself. It seemed easy enough to set up, and unlike a real tree her landlord wouldn't complain for the next three rent inspections that there were _still_ pine needles stuck in the carpet. The next stop was decorations. After leaving the sales boy to collect her box from the storeroom, she grabbed a basket and headed to the decorations area. Christmas tree decoration had changed since she had last had one – instead of the higgledy-piggledy decoration technique they had used as children, where each decoration had it's own special meaning, trees now seemed to be colour-coordinated and all decorated in golds, reds, silvers or purples. Cameron chose four boxes of glass baubles and finally found herself facing the selection of Hallmark decorations. After a moment or two of careful deliberation she chose five decorations and added them to her basket. By now, all she needed was one last thing – the angel for the top of her tree. When she couldn't find one, she returned to the sales counter and asked the boy who had collected her tree where she could find one. To her dismay, he replied that they weren't stocking treetop angels this year because they didn't sell well enough – most people bought a star instead. With a sigh of disappointment, Cameron quickly went and selected a star before returning to the counter to pay for her purchase.

* * *

While she had to admit that takeaway Burger King had nothing on a home-cooked roast beef dinner, Cameron scrunched up the wrappers and threw them in the bin, ready to set up and decorate her tree. She grabbed a knife to open the packing strap and tape on the box, and pushed play on her CD deck, smiling as the sound of Celine Dion singing carols came softly through the speakers. Seating herself cross-legged on the carpet in front of her new purchases, Cameron felt almost as if it were Christmas already. She opened the box and began setting up her tree, having to stand up on tip toes to put on the final ten inches of tree at the top. Her bare feet sank into the plush off-white carpeting, and the track pants and oversized sweater she wore swallowed her small body, enveloping her in a feeling of safety and comfort. Scraping her hair back into a ponytail, Cameron stood back to admire her handiwork. The lush green of the fake tree was so similar to that of a real tree that it seemed the only thing missing was the overwhelming scent of pine.

Reaching for the boxes of baubles, Cameron had soon decorated the tree to her satisfaction. As she placed the star on the top of the tree, she stood back and once again looked over the tree. Moving into her kitchen, she made herself a hot chocolate and returned to the sofa in her living room. Tucking her bare feet up under herself, she sat for a while, simply admiring her new tree and listening to carols. After a while, Cameron stood up, put her empty mug in the sink, turned off the stereo and made her way to bed with only one wish – that instead of the plastic gold star on top of her tree, it was an angel like she had had as a child.


	2. Don't Save It All For Christmas Day

A/N - Hey guys, sorry its taking me so long to update this. It's madness here! I've finally got my laptop and an internet connection, so hopefully more stuff should be up soon. I don't get many days off from work, so you'll have to be patient. Thanks for all the great reviews last time though! Please keep it up! C.

_How could you wait another minute?_

_A hug is better when you're in it,_

_And Baby that's a fact._

_December 2nd 2006_. Cameron's neat handwriting wrote the date on the top right-hand corner of a notepad as she started to open her boss's mail and write notes for him. A small smile had been on her face all morning, and she had found herself filled with a kind of hope and faith that had made her start to sing softly on her drive in to work. It seemed strange that such a small difference to her daily pattern, even just putting up a Christmas tree in her living room, could brighten her up.

She adjusted her glasses on the end of her nose and opened the first letter, an invitation to speak at a conference in Dubai. Cameron frowned, knowing House would decline, but wrote it down for him anyway.

After putting down the last letter, Cameron picked up her coffee mug and leant back in her boss's swivel chair, sighing. She pushed herself gently from side to side and closed her eyes. The carols from the night before were still stuck in her mind and Cameron soon found herself humming a Celine Dion song softly. When she was interrupted by the soft thud of a cane on carpet, Cameron cracked an eyelid and peeked at her boss, a flush spreading over her cheeks.

"My chair. No sitty." Cameron raised her eyebrows at House's childish language. His only response was a slight wave of the hand indicating that she should vacate his seat. Cameron pushed herself up and moved around the side of his desk, ignoring her boss's exaggerated groans as he made himself comfortable and glanced over her notes. It didn't surprise her that he made no further effort at conversation and after a second of thought, she turned on her low heel, collected her lab coat from where it lay over a chair and left.

* * *

Rose Jarvis yawned and stretched as her alarm beeped loudly. Without even opening her eyes she rolled onto her side and slammed down the snooze button on the alarm. Another day at work, but she felt less rested than she had the night before. The muscles in her arms and thighs ached, but it was 8.30am, and she had to be at work by 9.30. Bleary eyed, Rose swung her legs out from under her warm comforter and onto the cold hardwood floor. She dragged herself into the kitchen and fumbled with the coffee maker, pushing the percolate button before lugging herself into the shower.

As Rose stood under the hot stream of water, she struggled to rouse herself. For over two weeks now, she had lived through the same routine every day. Wake up, work, get home too tired to do anything, go straight to sleep. Mentally noting to make a doctor's appointment for the next day, Rose got out of the shower and poured herself a cup of coffee, throwing on her uniform and grabbing her bag before heading out of her apartment and down to the bus stop.

* * *

Cameron pulled the door to her apartment shut and threw her handbag, keys and mail onto the hall table. She peeled off her scarf and coat and shook off her heels, instantly feeling more relaxed. Making her way into the kitchen to prepare dinner, she though about how dull her day had been. After the brief meeting with House that morning, she hadn't seen him again until the day was over and they had been leaving. No diagnostic patients meant that Cameron had spent all day in the clinic, while House had spent the day avoiding paperwork.

Pasta boiled on the stovetop, so Cameron crept into her living room and sank onto the sofa. She had the next two days off, provided diagnostics got no new patients. Thinking about the best way to spend those next two days, she decided on absolutely nothing for the next day and Christmas shopping and cleaning for the day after. Looking up at the new addition to her living room, she smiled again, deciding that perhaps this would be a good Christmas after all.


	3. Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Hey guys. Thank you so much for all the reviews! You really make me want to keep going with the story.

Special thanks to Kristen: You were right, I'm not American, I'm Australian. Thanks so much for your comments, I'll try to double check my grammar in the future. As for the 1st of Dec tradition, I don't really know how it all works over in the states but in my family we put the tree up on the 1st day of advent, which is the 1st of Dec. My mum usually cooks a roast and then we decorate the tree, so I was just basing Cam's story on my own little bit there. Even if it is on a weekday, we usually do it. As for shopping hours. I'm so jealous of you guys over there. Our shops shut at 5.30 every day except Thursdays when they are open til 9. And they don't normally open on Sundays. So please forgive my mistakes. But I truly appreciate your review, thank you!

And to all the other reviewers: HouseCam action is coming up! Slowly but surely.

Ciao. C.

_Hark the herald Angels sing_

'_Glory to the newborn king,_

_Peace on Earth and mercy mild_

_God and sinners reconciled.'_

"Cameron."

The gruff voice from behind her stopped Cuddy in her tracks. She didn't turn around, simply raised an eyebrow.

"House, you can't send her in your place. Either you go, or you don't." Cuddy spun on her heel and faced the obnoxious doctor. She sized him up, studying his facial expression, hoping to find some kind of tell to give away his internal thoughts. But as usual, he gave away nothing.

"She'd learn a lot from it." He said simply, giving a slight shrug.

"Oh, and of course it has nothing to do with the fact that you won't need to see her for almost a week." Disbelief filled her voice and she quirked an eyebrow.

"Nope," House replied, indifferently. He jerked his cane upward until his hand was no longer holding it by the grip, but halfway down the cane. "I just think she'd learn more from the conference than anyone else I could send." Cuddy groaned and dropped her face down, raising a hand and rubbing her temple.

"House, the whole point of sending someone to the Dubai conference was that it was supposed to be you, and you were supposed to be giving a lecture there. You can't just send someone else instead. It doesn't work that way."

"Well, whose idea was it to have the conference on the 27th of December? Smack between Christmas and New Year. Do you have any idea how many sick people go to hospitals just after Christmas? Can you really afford to be without your best doctor? Your only good diagnostician?"

"You've been training those three for over two years now House, I'm fairly sure they can handle a case or two without you. Make up your mind. I don't really care whether you go or not, but you can't send Dr. Cameron." Cuddy said with a note of finality in her voice that ended the conversation. She turned back towards her office and left House standing in the hall, leaning against the wall in thought as her heels click-click-clicked into the distance.


End file.
